Carving our Pumpkins

On Sunday we carved our pumpkins over at Mom and Dad's with Joseph and Juli. Aidan had been sick that day, but still had a great time. I was surprised he didn't want to get his hands in the guts of the pumpkin, but he decided that job was better suited for someone else. Here are some pictures of the event.

Brett wasn't all that thrilled with having to scoop out the pumpkin, either.

They are much happier now that Joseph stepped in and took over. :)

Juli concentrating. :)

This is the face that Aidan made to show me how he wanted the pumpkin.

The finished product. Joseph & Juli's Haunted House was impressive. :)

So cute- I was happy to capture such a sweet moment on camera.

Pumpkin Patch!

If you have never been to the big red barn in Santaquin- it is a must! Brett and I started a new family tradition by taking Aidan there last year and it is one of our favorites. You ride a wagon out to a big pumpkin patch and then get to pick your pumkins and ride the wagon back. The barn is filled with all sorts of yummy things like Apple Cider and Apple Doughnuts. This year we invited my family along and had a great time. It is such a fun fall activity!!

New Templates!

I found this great new site (Thanks Leslie!) that has a million new templates. They have holidays, all the colors, pretty much everything you can think of and I found quite a few cute ones that I'll be changing to in the future. I thought I'd better share the wealth and pass on the website. I actually think you can just click on the link on the top of my page and it will take you there. I thought I'd go all out and get in the mood for scary Halloween! Hope you find something you like!

P.S. I found the cutest pumpkin patch template but the picture stays behind your pictures and it kind of looked funny- maybe someone else can make it work. :)

Yum-O!

I found this yummy recipe for Pumpkin Whoopie Pies in the Raechel Ray "Every Day" magazine (which has lots of good recipes in it, by the way). We enjoyed them so much we each ate one and then thought it would be best to give them away (not very weight watchers friendly). I needed to bring a treat over to a woman that I visit teach, whose husband just had brain surgery, and felt they served a much better purpose there. :)

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, 1 stick melted, 1/2 stick softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon plus 2 pinches salt
1 2/3 cups flour
4 ounces cream cheese, chilled
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 2. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour. 3. Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, drop 12 generous mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.4. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. Add the confectioners' sugar and the remaining 2 pinches salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.5. Spread the flat side of 12 cakes with the cream cheese frosting. Top each with another cake.

P.S. My format is acting all funny and won't let me un center the text. Sorry it's a little hard to read. :)

I've been tagged!

I just got tagged by Juli! Everyone who reads my blog is now also tagged!!

1. 10 years ago I had just started my first year at Ricks College. I was living with my cousin Jen and was enjoying being on my own for the first time. Most importantly, I met Brett that first week of school and the rest is history...

2. 5 years ago I graduated with my degree in piano pedagogy from Utah State. Happy Day!!! We were living in Logan and I was on the faculty at the Youth Conservatory and working at the hotel on campus. We went to a lot more movies back then. :)

3. 1 year ago I was enjoying Aidan as a 2 year old and was wondering if I was pregnant- I found out soon enough and now we have Ethan! My life 1 year ago was pretty much identical to what it is now, but now we are lucky to have 2 sweet boys!

4. Yesterday I got up early and Brett took the day off (Fall Break) so we went up to Park City to try to find much needed shoes for Brett and jeans for me. My cranky mood on the way home tells that I found no jeans and reminded me how much I hate shopping for pants. We shopped for about 4 hours, then came home and Anson and Julia came over and watched Aidan while Brett and I went out on a date. We ate at Smokehouse and saw "Hairspray" and had a great time. Ethan watched or slept through the whole movie and it was wonderful!

5. 5 snacks I enjoy: Diet Coke with Splenda, chocolate chip cookies (although now that it's fall I love all things pumpkin- pumpkin pasta, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie in the sky ice cream, but not pumpkin pie), grapes, Fiber One Bars, baked Cheetos.

6.5 things I would do if I suddenly had $100 million: Pay off the student loans, Buy a house, Buy a car that didn't need a new engine and clutch a year and a half after we bought it, Travel on a lot of vacations, significantly reduce the size of my piano studio so I could spend more time with the boys. (Ok, I really need 6 because then I would invest the rest so Brett could quit work too- he just told me that if we had $100 million we wouldn't even need to invest it for him to quit work, but it seems like the smart thing to do).

7. 5 locations I would like to run away to: Hawaii, New York, Boston, Europe (obviously), Vermont or New Hampshire to see the fall leaves.

8. 5 bad habits I have: asking Brett to do things I can do myself, OCD cleaning (it never quite feels clean enough),waking up later than I should, not exercising, keeping all receipts and never cleaning out the filing drawer.

9. 5 shows I like: Grey's Anatomy (I finally joined the craze and I have no idea what took me so long), Brothers and Sisters, Ugly Betty, The Office, and I must pay respect to my all time favorite show which is no longer on the air, but deeply missed- Gilmore Girls.

10. 5 things I hate doing: cleaning the bathroom, mopping the floors (can you tell what Brett's cleaning jobs generally are?), having shots, hiking, and picking up the dropped plums in the yard. (o.k. I haven't done that last one in probably 15 years but the trauma of it is deeply ingrained- so many squishy plums!)

11. 5 biggest joys of the moment: Making Ethan laugh, hearing Aidan tell me that he loves me, my fall wreath (and everything else fall- this is my absolute favorite time of year!), finding new low fat recipes that I can make and still do weight watchers, having Brett home for Fall Break.

Run Daddy Run!

Last weekend we went to St. George for Dad's 23rd (?) St. George Marathon. He did a great job and we are always so proud and impressed by his hard work and speed. The marathon is always over conference weekend and it's usually our last chance at summer, but for the first time that I could remember, it was cold and windy and we were disappointed that we didn't get to take the boys swimming. We still had a great time being with the family, though, and missed Jordan and Danny being there.

Mom, Joseph, Aidan, Anson & Julia waiting for Dad to come in.

Almost there!

Notice the brown hair? I'm testing the theory on whether or not blondes have more fun. So far, I'm having a pretty good time with dark hair. :)

Ethan loves this little frog wrist rattle, so we attatched it to his car seat and he sits and cooes and laughs at it. So cute.

Bear with me...

I'm in the process of learning how to customize my blog using pages from digital scrapbooking, and not having much luck. In the mean time I'm just sticking with plain white until I get all of this figured out. Anyone who can offer advice would be greatly appreciated! Hopefully my construction will be done soon!